NEWS

"Jeff Rosenstock started the year off by releasing a new album, POST-, and today he’s shared the first music video based off one of its songs, and it’s a good one. The video for “Melba” was directed by Ben Epstein and David Combs, and it follows a cycle of aggression that starts with a shitty boss making his employees clean up his mess, then follows one of those employees as he takes out his anger on the patrons of a restaurant, and then Rosenstock shows up as a restaurant manager who berates the back kitchen. There’s a lot of smashing glass and cathartic breaking of things, especially in the final sequence where one of the restaurant employees goes back to her room and absolutely demolishes it. Watch below.

Here’s a quote from co-director David Combs:

'Jeff wanted to make a video featuring a character who, consequence free, carelessly destroys everything around them. The idea of such a character reminded me of how often the abuse of power is a thoughtless exercise for those who hold it, so we decided to expand on the idea and make it a commentary on how abusive patterns get replicated — where the effects are passed downward hierarchically and the people with the least power experience the consequences most intensely. You know, also it’s fun to watch people smash shit, so we tried to have a good time with that too.'"

"Jeff Rosenstock, the Brooklyn-based punk outsider behind Bomb the Music Industry!, has released the first video from his latest solo effort POST-. The visual for 'Melba,' directed by Ben Epstein and David Combs, stars Rosenstock as a restaurant manager who violently loses his temper after dealing with the pent up anger of a disgruntled patron. The cycle of aggression, which ends with another restaurant employee destroying her apartment, matches the frustration in the song’s lyrics: 'This was a shit day/ Can’t power through the haze/ I’m tired of waiting for it to be over.'"

Nana Grizol is an indie-rock megalith from Athens, Georgia. An amalgamation of bands of influence, namely Neutral Milk Hotel and Elf Power, it’s no surprise that Ursa Minor is going to go down as one of the biggest sleeper hits of the year. Their brand of indie-rock thrives on quiet swells and nostalgia; feeling more and like the weird and quirky radio rock of the early 2000’s as you continue to dive further into it. Today, we’re bringing you the music video for my favorite track from the record– the infectious and immediately memorable “Nightlights I.”

The music video for “Nightlights I” sees the protagonist staring into a mirror as he gets poked and prodded by makeup artists, staring blankly into his own dead eyes until his sanity begins to slip. He starts to dance, first with other people, and then eventually with these expressionless figments of his imagination; fully embracing this break in normalcy by the end of it. The above video is a Baby Pony Food production that was Directed by David Combs and Ben Epstein and stars Jake Starr.

The juxtaposition of power and desperation in dub legend Lee "Scratch" Perry's 1978 classic "Soul Fire" is as relevant today as it was back then. He croons about a "burnin' in my soul," and then a verse later wails with desperation, "And we ain't got no water/ We ain't got no water." It's heavy.

It's that juxtaposition that drives and inspires D.C. electronic-dance trio Light Beams' "Soul Fire Part II (For Lee Power)," and its accompanying music video."'[The song] is a meditation on the perils of navigating identity in the postcolonial era," says vocalist Justin Moyer (who, full disclosure is a former City Paper contributor).

In the music video Moyer escapes the clutches of some nefarious characters, fleeing to a TV studio where he and his bandmates Sam Lavine and Arthur Noll perform live on air, only for his pursuers to try and intervene. Music video directing duo Benjamin Epstein and David Combs of The Max Levine Ensembledid the project through their company Baby Pony Food.

"I wanted to write a song as joyful and horrifying as Lee Scratch Perry's 'Soul Fire,' and this is what I came up with, and thought David and Ben tapped into these ideas in an delightfully indirect, user-friendly fashion," Moyer explains.

"Bad Moves, the political power pop group from D.C., broke out at the end of 2016 with their outstanding debut EP. Now, the last song on the album, titled "The Verge," is their first to get the music video treatment. It embodies all the tension and overflowing emotion you would expect from a song about going over the edge. The majority is also shot in slow motion, adding to the feeling of apprehension. It starts in a diner, with water slowly pouring into a plastic cup. The scene invokes a sense of familiarity, as almost every American town and TV show has a copycat establishment with a similar homey vibe. One thing these restaurants have in common is an expectation that waiters and waitresses will consistently refill water cups. As you watch this video and see the waitress’ blank, insincere smile along with the purity and the clarity of the falling liquid, it seems like a senseless unspoken rule. How much of that constantly refilled water do you actually drink?

The water in this video finally fills the cup, bubbles at the rim, and bursts over the edges. Every waiter is doing the same absent-minded pouring, and soon, the plates, tabletops, seats, and floors of the diner are soaked. Images of natural water flash across the screen. Watching all the waste and uneasiness at the restaurant in contrast with all the beauty and power in nature will put you on edge. But it’s hard to look away - the complacency of the patrons is mesmerizing in spite of all the tension. For most of the video, the Bad Moves vocalists wail poppy hooks about dissatisfaction, “walking through...life and feeling sick,” and always feeling on the verge of something more fulfilling. Then, the tone changes, and the vocalists take control of their lives. Belting at the same time for an empowering effect as they say, “I started plotting out a course to getting free again,” the built up tension finally lets loose as images of liberation flash across the screen. We see everything from volcanoes and geysers exploding to soup bowls and toilets overflowing. Every time a cymbal crashes in the song, its like a breath that we held through the video is finally being let out in one long rush of air."